I love facilitating workshops and delivering talks on Design. Get in touch to learn more.
- 24 November 2017. eCurio Hackathon Johannesburg. Talk: Introduction to Design Thinking
- 14 October 2017. Facebook Generation Developer Hackathon Johannesburg. Talk: Introduction to Design Thinking
- 10 September 2017. Wonderware Conference Johannesburg. Talk: Hidden Data and Innovation
- 18 May 2017. UX South Africa Johannesburg Conference. Talk: The UX of Agriculture
- 10 November 2016. UX South Africa Cape Town Conference. Talk: A New Vision for UX Design in South Africa: Becoming Design Activists
- 8 November 2016. UX South Africa Cape Town Conference. Workshop: Make Critique Part of your Process
- 26 May 2016. UX Masterclass Cape Town. Talk: The Lost Art of the Critique
- 4 April 2016. UX Cape Town. Workshop: Design Websites and Apps like a User-Centered Designer
TALKS
The Lost Art of the Critique
There are a lot of books being published on how think. This begs the question: Are we struggling to think clearly in the information age? This talk explores the different types of thinking and how it can be applied to get the most of our conversations at work.
A New Vision for UX Design in South Africa: Becoming Design Activists
An industry with empathy at the core of its practice can’t ignore the big problems facing South Africa and the wider continent. In a rapidly changing design landscape will UX designers be relevant in the future?
UX designers exist at a unique interdisciplinary juncture and with the maturity of design thinking, social innovation, and lean startup, we are uniquely placed to re-apply our skills in these areas to find new relevance and greater impact in doing work that matters.
But taking action is not easy, even if it can be known what is to be done. In this talk I explore the new mindsets, skills and attitudes UX designers need to shift from merely doing design to becoming design activists.
The UX of Agriculture
I’m interested in the future of food production, urban farming, and how digital technology can disrupt aspects of mass agriculture. This talk is the outcome of researching new developments and thinking in agritech and urban farming.
WORKSHOPS
Design Thinking & Improv
You think with your body, not only with your brain. – Daniel Kahneman
To be a designer in the 21st century you need to master a new set of skills. This workshop will start you on the way by teaching you how to use user-centred design and improv to foster innovation and to build strong teams.
In this action focused workshop you’ll experience:
- How improv gets groups in a creative and collaborative mindset
- How user-centred design can be used to generate solutions for real people from an evidence based perspective
Facilitated by David du Plessis and Sjaka Septembir
David is a user experience designer working with the world’s biggest companies. Sjaka is an actor/director creating performances using improv and physical theatre.
Make Design Critique Part Of Your Process
It is important to make things right. But it’s more important to make the right things. In the rapid pace of agile projects conversations usually focus on getting the agile process right. Teams become inward looking, often forgetting that the design needs to solve the problems of users outside the building.
But having effective design conversations is not easy. And as more people from non-design backgrounds move into the product space, knowledge and experience for how to do effective design critique is not widespread. In this hands-on workshop you’ll learn:
- How to identify different types of feedback
- How to respond to feedback, and how to give good feedback
- Planning and running a design critique session
- Implementing the outcomes of design critique sessions
Design Websites and Apps like a User-Centered Designer
My experience has been that there is confusion about how user-centered design and design thinking can be applied to designing websites and apps. Design thinking is not just for solving social problems.
User-centered design is at the core of what UX designers do – this hands-on workshop takes you through the process when designing for the web.